Guardians of Akasha: Book 1
by AlthosHol
Summary: Re-Write of the original Guardians of Akasha - Freelance Mercenary Emiya has had enough. He's tired of always arriving too late, of always failing to protect the ones he loves. His dream of being a Hero seems further away than ever and his one trump card is slowly slipping from his grasp. How will a rusted and broken sword deal with being thrown into a world of Devils and Angels?


**_Disclaimer: Neither High School DxD or Fate Stay Night are mine. All characters and plots recognizable were created by others much richer than me. I am simply borrowing them for fun and seek no monetary gain from this._**

 **Extended Summary:** Freelance Mercenary Emiya has had enough. He's tired of always arriving too late. His dream of being a Hero of Justice seems further away than ever. How will a rusted sword handle being thrown into a world where Devils and Angels exist? A world still caught in the Age of the Gods?

This is a story of a Good Ending Unlimited Blade Works Shirou struggling with his desire to be a hero that strives to save everyone. Trying to cling to his dream, but feeling it slip away from him a little more with every failure he endures. If you are familiar with the UBW then you should be good to go from here.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 1:**

 ****UPDATED: 01/09/2016****

"Shirou you can't keep doing this!"

"Why not Rin?" Shirou Emiya asked with a sigh, leaning against the wall of their room arms crossed over his chest.

"Why not?" Rin stared at him like he'd just grown a second head. "What about how your last assignment ended! Is that enough of a reason!?"

"Rin everything ended fine. I got the designate; even Vice Director Barthomeloi said she approved of the results." Shirou defended.

"Of course she approved!" Rin threw her hands up and turned her back to him and started putting away the jewels she'd been using when he'd walked into the room. "You killed the man, which was good, because trust me I definitely think he deserved it, but…"

"Then what's the problem?" Shirou interrupted, pulling back quickly as she whipped around to glare at him.

"You lost an arm! An ARM!"

Shirou looked down at the arm in question and flexed his hand. The sealing designate he'd been sent to capture had put up more of a fight than he'd anticipated.

It had only taken a week to grow back completely thanks to the incredible regenerative powers Avalon provided.

 _It feels fine now. Why can't she let it go?_

"Rin my arm is fine now. Why can't you let it go?"

The small magus in front of him narrowed her eyes and pointed her finger at his face, making him flinch.

"Damn it Shirou! That's not the point and you know it." She didn't give him a chance to respond. "It's about _why_ you got hurt in the first place."

"I don't know what…" Shirou took a step back as Rin's crest activated and her finger started to glow a dark purple. She wouldn't shoot him in the face with a Gandr – would she?

"Until you can actually use your reality marble again, you can't go off on these crazy missions anymore." Her voice was almost a hiss.

"Rin, I told you I can still connect to it." Shirou tried to reassure her. "It's just…"

"Shirou you only have minimal use out of it now." She let her magical crest power down and took a step away from him. She wrapped her arms around herself and to Shirou she suddenly looked so much smaller. "You have limited access to your weapons, anything you can still pull up on demand is degraded even more than usual…and that's not even all of it…Shirou do you not understand the implications of this?"

Shirou turned to stare out the window of the room the clocktower had assigned him as sleeping quarters. His silence just agitated her further.

"Shirou a reality marble is a manifestation of your SOUL." She emphasized the last word. "Throughout all of recorded history only a handful of human beings have managed to create one..."

He could hear the concern in her voice, and it hurt that he couldn't say anything to make it go away.

"Shirou losing connection to a previously fully realized reality marble…a manifestation of your own soul…there's not enough known on the subject to be sure…but…" Her voice trailed off for a moment. "Shirou I can't lose you too."

Shirou couldn't stand there quietly after hearing that. Turning around he quickly made his way to the smaller woman and pulled her into his arms. He hugged her close so that her head rested on his chest and lowered his until he could whisper directly into her ear.

"I promise you won't lose me Rin."

"You can't promise that Shirou. The things you keep facing…with your best thaumaturgy locked away…It's too dangerous." She whispered wrapping her arms around his waist.

Shirou didn't reply. He'd already promised her she wouldn't lose him once.

He couldn't lie to her again.

# # #

 **Three weeks later**

The world was on fire. Everything that could ignite was burning to ash, everything else; metal, brick, cement was left blackened and twisted. The fires raging on despite the frigid temperatures and the falling snow, spreading and consuming everything they touched. Nothing and no one was spared.

He could still see them, the people that had been caught in the blaze. They'd had no warning. No chance to escape.

Their bodies were scattered everywhere. Some beneath the rubble of their homes, others lying in the street, clothes still burning, flesh still smoldering.

Shirou Emiya took in the hellish scene around him without a hint of the emotion that burned inside him, an emotion so intense it was hard to say which was hotter; his rage or the inferno that caused it. The light from the flames reflected off eyes the color of steel as he forced himself to bear witness to results of his latest failure. There were no survivors, there couldn't be. There was no saving anyone from such a nightmare. He was too late. Again. Always too late.

There was only one thing left to do.

It was too late to prevent the chaos around him from happening, but he could still punish the one responsible.

Shirou made his way down the main road that cut its way through the center of the village. Ignoring the smoke that burned his nose; ignoring the pain of cinders landing on his exposed skin. Such things were trivial and easily discarded.

It would not be wrong to say that Shirou Emiya was born of fire. It was his earliest memory, the feel of the flames as they brushed against his skin, the sounds of people screaming, of wood and metal collapsing, the suffocating darkness of smoke and ash, and the overpowering stench of all that burned, living and non-living alike. It was all familiar to him. It was something he knew he would never be able to forget.

Shirou stopped for a moment to cautiously examine his surroundings, searching the shadows and overhangs, before tilting his face towards the sky and closing his eyes.

 ***SNIFF*…*SNIFF***

His nostrils burned and his lungs clenched as traces of smoke filled them. The acrid smell of fire and ash covered everything, but underneath it all, separate from the fumes that permeated the air, the scent he was looking for stood out from the rest like a shining flare.

Prana.

Almost all magi were capable of it, of sensing the ambient prana around them to one degree or another. Shirou's ability to sense prana as smell, while uncommon, was not particularly rare.

It was the distance at which he could detect even minute traces of prana and his skill at determining the origin and elemental nature of that prana that caused the jealous mutterings of more than a few seasoned magi.

It had taken him almost an hour to follow the scent he was tracking to this point. The source of all the death and destruction that surrounded him. He could feel it. It was close.

" _Trace. On_." Shirou whispered to himself as he opened his circuits, sparing a brief moment to reinforce his body, strengthening his bones and muscles until he could feel them practically vibrating with power; His senses taking in everything around him with a speed and clarity that could have been called inhuman.

It was thanks to these newly sharpened senses that he heard the crunch of snow being crushed under foot behind him.

He whipped his head around as a dark figure stepped out of the shadows and into the center of the street behind him.

"So the fools at the clock tower have sent a child to try and kill me?" It asked calmly stepping into the light of the fire surrounding. It was a tall, well-dressed man in his late thirties with short hair. His clothes appeared clean and pressed despite the chaos that surrounded them. A white dress shirt and tie, dark vest and pants, all under a long black coat. Nothing about his appearance would have drawn suspicion normally; from a distance he would appear to be no more exciting than your average banker.

The illusion was shattered when said "banker" smiled at Shirou, the small fangs obvious to anyone who knew to look for them. A quick glance confirmed the rest: unnaturally pale skin and blood red eyes.

Shirou turned to face the man fully. This was the one he'd been seeking. The man whose 'scent' of death and decay filled Shirou's mind and confirmed what he had already known. Dead Apostle. Vampire. Monster.

"You caused all this?" Shirou asked his voice betraying nothing, his tone even with no trace of emotion. To anyone else listening he might as well have been asking about the weather.

"When I heard the clock tower had found me and my sources confirmed your location, I thought I wouldn't have time to ' _clean up'._ It was most unfortunate and quite the tragedy. A great deal of my research had to be sacrificed. I had hoped to be gone before anyone arrived, but now I wish I hadn't been so hasty." The man's eyes narrowed. "I was expecting a team of enforcers. If I had known they were sending one so young, and without an escort, I wouldn't have bothered." The vampire actually seemed curious as it finished its monologue. "Tell me…was it arrogance or foolishness that has led you to your death?"

Shirou tensed his shoulders and opened his hands slightly at his side.

"You killed all these people?" Shirou answered the question with one of his own. His voice, so soft, the vampire nearly had to strain to hear him. "You _sacrificed_ all these lives just to cover your tracks?"

It was the vampire's turn to tense as he felt the energy in the air shift.

"No, you caused this." The apostle remarked almost casually, appearing only slightly unnerved by the feeling he was getting from the boy in front of him. "You forced my hand. I was forced to destroy years of research." The last sentence came out as something close to a snarl. "All my test subjects destroyed!"

"Research? Test Subjects?" The first hint of emotion appeared as a frown on Shirou's face. "That's all they were to you?"

"That's all!?" The apostle repeated incredulously. "I've spent the last twenty years perfecting my mysteries. Even with my all my notes it will take me at least half that to restore what has been lost!"

"Don't worry you won't have to concern yourself with the lost time for too much longer." Shirou informed him quietly, the promise in his tone unmistakable.

The dead apostle once known as Joseph Chamberlain, a third generation magus turned dead apostle, stared bewildered for a moment. This boy could not be more than nineteen, twenty at most.

"And what makes you think…" He was forced to end his question abruptly when the magus in front of him exploded into action, flying at him far faster than he would have thought possible, covering the 30 feet between them in less than a heartbeat.

No human would have been able to track his movements let alone react to them.

Shirou's reinforced fist barely grazed the apostle's face as his target spun away from the blow, his coat billowing out around him, as he quickly jumped back a few paces and putting some distance between them.

Shirou slid to a halt and turned to stare at the vampire now only a dozen feet away from him. Facing the monster with his hands once again at his side, leaving his torso completely unguarded, he waited.

The former magus didn't waste any time and took the 'opening'. In a burst of speed exceeding Shirou's previous attack the apostle launched himself forward with one clawed hand thrust out, reaching for Shirou's heart.

Only to grasp nothing as the hand and lower half of the connected forearm hit the ground, 10 feet away from the creature it had previously been attached to. The vampire snarled in pain and quickly retreated, its eyes locked on the swords the boy in front of him was now wielding in each hand.

Two double-edged greek xiphos gleamed as they reflected the flickering light of the fire around them off their dark black metal. Both swords were simple and elegant. No decoration or jewels adorned the metal and each hilt wrapped in leather dyed as black as the blade. They were clearly tools of war, meant to be used, not to be left on display.

Shirou could see the frustration and confusion in his enemy's eyes as they studied the blades. The confusion lasted only a few seconds before it was replaced with dawning apprehension as his opponent finally realized who he was facing.

"Well well well…how unexpected." The apostle commented. "I did not expect the Clock Tower to send such a…celebrity after me." The apostle laughed mockingly as he kept his eyed on Shirou. "I must have annoyed a noble of some influence to have earned a visit from the infamous Magus Killer."

Shirou's calm expression twisted briefly at the mention of his unwanted title. A fact that did not go unnoticed.

"So Killer-kun." The apostle addressed him with a condescending smile and mocking tone. "How does one go about earning such a moniker? It obviously isn't meant to reflect your…'exceptional' skills, is it? Although your projection and reinforcement are quite good, I will admit that."

Shirou remained silent and simply waited for his opponent's next move. He could feel his anger just below the surface as he always did when someone referred to him by that name, but he pushed it down and focused on the upcoming fight. Nothing else mattered. Everything else was a distraction. There was evil in front of him. A monster in the shape of a man. Such an existence needed to die.

The lack of response seemed to annoy the vampire.

"You should never have come here Magus Killer." The apostle stated. "I'm going to kill you." His voice dropped an octave as he extended the handless arm away from his body the air around it contorting. "And after I'm finished dissecting any and all secrets I can from your corpse, I'll send whatever's left back to the clock tower. I wonder what 'The Queen' would say If I were to send her your head in a gift wrapped box?"

Shirou sighed in disappointment as he watched the man's arm reconstitute itself in the span of only a few seconds. Not a trace left behind to prove that there was ever an injury in the first place.

"So you've managed to master that ability." Shirou observed out loud, despite himself. "Impressive. For an apostle turned less than 2 decades ago to have that ability is rare." Shirou wasn't joking. The power to wind back time and restore their body to an uninjured state was an advanced ability not usually mastered by low level apostles.

"Unfortunately, for you, I'm not done yet." His opponent smiled viciously.

He watched as the flesh of the apostles arms began to change. The skin seemed to harden and thicken. The color mutating from an unnatural pale white to a black so dark it seemed to absorb the light around it. It started at the fingers and quickly grew to encompass both arms, clothes and all, all the way to the elbows.

"You are mine!" The apostle snarled and lunged at him for a second time once again aiming for his heart.

Shirou quickly dodged and attempted to slice off the limb reaching for him as he had before, but was less than surprised when his blade simply deflected the blow with the sound of metal hitting metal.

 _Ok I guess we try something different then._ Shirou thought to himself as he immediately took the offensive.

Closing distance with the apostle Shirou brought both swords down together in an overhead slash only to grimace as both blades collided with the apostle's forearms producing nothing but sparks. The force of the blow did however knock the apostle back a step and Shirou wasted no time in attacking again, striking out with the blade in his right hand even as he used his left to deflect a follow up jab to his chest. He used the flat of the blade to absorb the blow before being forced to spin away from a swipe to the head.

His opponent growled at his inability to land a solid hit and sped up his attacks, again forcing Shirou to dodge a glancing blow that sliced a shallow cut across his cheek. He ignored the blood dripping from the wound; too busy trying to determine where the next attack would come from to care about such a small thing.

Not that he was overly worried.

The vampire was fast and strong. His abilities definitely surpassing those of a normal human, but this was an apostle that could barely boast twenty years as a vampire. His speed and strength were indeed super-human, but not overly impressive to Shirou.

Self-reinforcement was something Shirou had been practicing for almost as long as his opponent had been undead. His ability to fill the 'gaps' in his own body with prana had improved by leaps and bounds since he first started training himself in magecraft. Increasing his physical abilities by a factor of ten was more than enough to give him the edge in this fight.

Shirou continued to use both of his swords to maximum effect. One to defend any attack sent at him, the other meant to hammer away at his opponent's defenses, constantly altering his style, looking for an opening to exploit.

Unfortunately for the apostle, finding and exploiting openings was an Emiya trademark.

Deflecting a strike to his neck Shirou lashed out with a kick that would have crushed the ribs of a normal human. The apostle was thrown back from the power of the blow, landing on the hood of an old burned out car, the impact caving in the metal.

The former magus was stunned for a just a brief moment, less than a second in real time, but long enough for Shirou to get in close and in the blink of an eye the black xiphos in his right hand vanished mid strike to be replaced with a longsword made out of gleaming bronze. Without losing any momentum, Shirou brought the new sword down and plunged the blade into the apostle's chest, out the back, and into the engine block of the car beneath him.

The apostle snarled with rage for a few seconds as he tried and failed to pull the blade out. No matter how much he twisted or pulled the sword would not move.

"What sort of mystic code is this!?" The vampire demanded as he stopped struggling and looked at Shirou standing only a few feet away.

"It's not a mystic code." Shirou replied. His stance relaxed and his face blank once again. "It's a noble phantasm."

"Impossible!" The apostle denied his eyes going wide. "You expect me to believe that!? That you have not only managed to find, but also unlock the power of a 'crystalized mystery'? No one would believe such a lie!"

"I don't expect you to believe me. I don't really care one way or the other." Shirou replied. "Besides you shouldn't be worrying about that right now anyway. You have more pressing concerns at the moment."

No sooner had he finished his sentence then the apostle gasped and looked down at the blade of the sword sticking out of his chest. The bronze blade had started to glow a dull orange. A slight sizzling sound coming from the part of the sword buried in his chest.

"Wha…what have you done?" The apostle grimaced in pain. "What is this?" His voice taking on a hysterical edge as he started clawing at the weapon in his desperation to remove it.

"A taste of what you did to the people of this village. I figured it was only fair." Shirou's voice was even, his face a mask of calm, but for the first time since their fight began Joseph Chamberlain, former magus, sealing designate, and dead apostle saw fury in his eyes.

…Magus Killer.

The apostle thrashed about desperately as he tried to remove the blade. The skin on his chest blistering from the heat, the edges of the wound around the sword beginning to char. Pain unlike anything he had felt in more than twenty years was engulfing him and it wasn't long before he could no longer suppress the urge to scream.

Shirou Emiya stood there silently as the creature in front of him thrashed in pain, the screams echoing off the burning buildings around him. Almost a full minute passed before Shirou blinked. He turned his back to the screaming apostle and walked away, only uttering a single word as he did so.

"Dyrnwyn."

At the whispered word, Dyrnwyn, the mythical sword of Rhydderch Hael, one of the Three Generous Men of Britain mentioned in the Welsh Triads, burst into a blinding white flame that lit up the night and fully engulfed the vampire.

The apostle screams were silenced as his entire body was reduced to embers in less than a second.

And as fast as they had appeared the flames and sword were gone. Nothing remained save the ash covering the hood of the car, the metal beneath them completely unblemished.

# # #

Six hours later Shirou found himself retracing his own steps for what felt like the hundredth time. Dawn was starting to light up the horizon. His eyes moving over every inch of debris he could see. His head ached, a result of using structural analysis continuously for so long. It had been a small hope, one he knew to be foolish, but it had kept him searching throughout the night, until the last of the fire had gone out and the majority of the smoke had cleared. It was only now as he saw the first beam of light breach the horizon that he finally admitted to himself what he had known for the last six hours, ever since he had started searching the rubble.

No survivors.

The village was small to begin with, barely more than a few hundred residents. Less than a handful had fled when the fire began. A result of the compulsion magecraft the apostle had used to hide his location for so long.

One more sweep of the buildings around him and Shirou let his circuits rest. It was useless. All he could see was death.

He had failed…again.

 _You'll never find what you seek…_

How many of these people had cried out for salvation? How many had begged for a hero?

 _…you don't deserve to._

Shirou shook his head as he watched the first rays of the sun illuminate the ruined buildings in front of him.

 _Instead they got me._ He thought bitterly. _And all I could offer them was retribution._

It was to be expected, after all…

What else was the Magus Killer good for?

# # #

As Shirou boarded the plane that would take him back to England he once again thought back to the last time he'd seen Rin.

Her fears about his diminished ability to use unlimited blade works weren't unfounded. His ability to use it had been drastically diminished. Fights that would have been easy for him before were now quite a bit more dangerous. He understood her concern, and for the most part agreed with her, but the one thing they always disagreed with was how far she was willing to go to figure out why it was happening.

She was spending every waking moment pouring over texts and traveling to remote caches of knowledge all over Europe trying to puzzle out why his connection to his reality marble was so flimsy.

He'd tried to get her to stop. He'd asked her to just let him deal with it. She always ignored him. Acted like she couldn't even hear his words.

It scared him to think about what her looking into his problem might lead to.

If anyone at the mages association ever caught wind of what she was researching… the results would be so much worse than him just losing his trump card.

She'd be lucky to only get a sealing designation.

There were very few subjects as taboo to the association as reality marbles.

Sighing as a wave of exhaustion swept through him Shirou pulled out his cell phone and holding the number 2 down for a few seconds to activate the speed dial. He sat back in his chair as he felt the plane's engine roar to life.

Straight to voicemail.

"Hey Rin it's me. Just checking in like I said I would. The mission…" He took a second to choose his words. "The mission is over. Designate is dead. I'm heading back now. I'll call you again once I've landed."

Saying goodbye Shirou disconnected the call and shut his phone off.

He looked out the window at the snow covered tarmac as the plane started to taxi out onto the runway.

 _She's probably out, still looking…_

Shirou squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to silence the voice that had been popping up more and more over the last few years.

 _I've already tried get her to stop, she won't listen._

 _You're letting her risk everything she's worked so hard for, just to look for answers you don't need._

 _Shut up!_

 _Ha haha haha! You know I'm right. You know what happened to you. You already have the answers to the questions she's so desperately searching for._

 _You're wrong!_

 _Believe what you will, but we both know the truth don't we…_

Shirou clenched his fists as he fought to silence the voice.

Don't we…Faker.

# # #

 **The Next Day**

"Well here's your $45,000 USD for a successful hunt as agreed." Said the woman sitting across from him as she slid a large manila envelope over the table. The crisp English accent completely at odd with her gentle Asian features.

The private room they were sitting in was simple and spartan. A conference table, chairs, and a television screen were the only furniture in the room. Located in the back of a small non-descript pub smack dab in the middle of London, it was quiet, low key, and public, the perfect meeting place for those wanting to stay under the radar.

"I wouldn't exactly count this as a successful hunt Haruka-san." Shirou picked up the envelope and deposited it in the duffle bag by his feet. Counting it was unnecessary at this point and would have only wasted both of their time.

"Oh come on Emiya." The woman's eyes narrowed as she pulled a grimace. "How many times do I have to tell you to drop the honorific? We've been working together for over 10 years now."

Shirou smirked as he allowed his amusement at her attempt to change the subject show. It was her way of trying to distract him from his thoughts.

It wouldn't work, but he appreciated her trying.

While technically his mission had only been to kill the apostle, which he had, he had also been too late to stop the apostle from slaughtering the village he had been hiding in. That did not feel like a win to him.

He knew she wouldn't accept him shouldering the blame for how it all turned out and if he were to bring it up now she would definitely try to convince him it wasn't his fault.

 _Maybe I should follow her example and change the subject._ He could definitely do with a distraction.

"So do you have anything new for me?" He asked her with a smile.

The woman sitting across from him stared at him silently for a moment before sighing softly and sliding a second envelope across the table.

Shirou wasted no time in opening it and pulling out the contents. A brochure for "Touring The New Shinto Teito".

"Um…are you trying to trick me into going on vacation again Haruka-san?" He asked lifting an eyebrow.

Haruka smiled and shook her head before answering.

"No, this is a real job I promise." She said quickly. "A contact of mine in the DoSE reached out to me a few days ago. She said that she caught a faint flare of spiritual energy coming from the city during one of her meditation sessions."

The DoSE or Department of Spiritual Evocation was where magi focused on the mysteries of spiritual energies worked to understand the nature of spirits and the abilities they possessed. It was one of the few subjects he had bothered learning anything about over the years.

"Did your contact give you any specifics? Do we know what we're dealing with?" Most spirits were benign in nature and simply wished to be left alone, but some of them could be quite dangerous if provoked.

"No, she said the flare was very brief, only lasting a few seconds and very faint. If she hadn't been spirit roaming at the time she never would have known about it." Haruka replied.

"Ok I don't mean to question your friend, but why are the enforcers getting involved here?" Shirou asked. "Why didn't they send one of their own people to investigate?"

The Enforcers were essentially the Mage's Association's militant branch, made up of magi that had dedicated their lives and magecraft to battle and magical combat.

The average Association magus looked down on the enforcers, believing them to be a waste of potential and unworthy of the title magus. It was hypocrisy in Shirou's eyes that they openly mocked those that joined the enforcer ranks, but at the same time demanded perfect results when they needed to send the enforcers in to deal with dangerous situations that the normal magi refused, or were simply too unqualified, to handle.

Haruka reached into her inner jacket pocket and pulled out a folded up map of Japan which she quickly spread out on the table in front of him.

"One very big reason Emiya." Haruka stated as she pointed to a dot marked Shinto Teito. "There are absolutely no Ley Lines within 10 miles of the city in any direction. It should be in a spiritual dead zone."

He quickly scanned the map confirming what he had just heard. The map showed the ley lines of japan crisscrossing across Japan like a web of bright blue lines.

She was right. Shinto Teito was located right in the middle of a gaping hole created by the lines around it.

Now he was starting to understand why she had been contacted In the first place.

Ley lines or spirit lines were the invisible channels of mystical energy constantly carrying mana around the planet. Magi used them all the time to power ritual magecraft and bounded fields. They were a virtually unlimited source of magical energy that those knowledgeable in the correct fields could tap into in order to fuel their magecraft. It allowed magi with relatively low reserves to enact mysteries far greater than they would normally be capable of.

Additionally Ley lines were also what allowed natural spirits to manifest in the physical world. Spirits relied on the constant source of energy being produced by the Ley lines in order to exist. Only the most powerful of spirits would be able to exist in an area devoid of ley lines for any extended period of time.

The fact that Haruka's contact was able to detect anything at all was concerning. For a flare to be detectable all the way from England it would have to have been a power of great magnitude. No natural spirit Shirou knew of was strong enough to exist away from a ley line and still produce the power necessary to cause a flare that would be detectable at such a distance.

That could only mean this was an unnatural phenomena.

"Do you know anything else?" Shirou asked looking up from the map and into the eyes of the woman in front of him. "Any additional information that could help identify the source?"

"I'm afraid not." She replied.

Shirou sighed with disappointment as he gathered up his bag and picked up his coat.

"So I guess this is an information gathering assignment?" He asked with resignation. "You do know that if I discover this is a threat to the people living in the region I will destroy it regardless of its potential worth?"

He didn't really need to ask, but he always took the time to do so before accepting any mission. It gave the association the chance to withdraw their offer. Shirou could not stomach the "anything is acceptable if it advances magecraft" mindset of most association magi, but found the enforcers to be more tolerable for the most part.

The majority of them spent most of their time hunting down magi that had become a threat to the association and earned themselves sealing designations. Not the most altruistic of motivations, but since most of those they eliminated were the type of people that could look at a newborn baby and see an untainted test subject, Shirou tended not to judge them too harshly.

Shirou, as a freelance mercenary, had worked alongside many enforcers over the years and had built up a reputation with them for not caring about the politics or red tape when dealing with his assignments. He did not cater to the lords and ladies of The Association and dealt with his targets as he saw fit based on how much of a threat they were to the general population.

It was only thanks to the support of a few powerful individuals in the Clock Tower that he was not a sealing designate himself.

Haruka stared silently at Shirou for a moment before nodding her head.

"Your flight leaves in 16 hours, I've already emailed you the itinerary." This was all the answer he needed from her.

Gathering up his bag and storing away the documents he'd been given Shirou moved to stand up and leave, the meeting having been officially closed with his acceptance of the job.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him from moving.

"I apologize for interrupting your meeting, but I require Emiya's assistance with a personal matter, he will, unfortunately, not be available for this mission." A calm, deep voice spoke up from behind him.

The voice that caused shivers to run down Shirou's spine.

"Wizard Marshall….how…when?" Haruka stuttered out in panic. A most reasonable reaction for anyone familiar with the reputation of the old man that had simply materialized behind Shirou.

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, also known as Zelretch the Wizard Marshall.

Wielder of the Second True Magic, the Kaleidoscope, the operation of parallel worlds.

The single greatest terror known to all Association magi.

A prankster with the powers of a god….and a sense of humor that usually resulted in serious mental scarring…for his victims.

…And the most powerful of Shirou's benefactors.

Shirou closed his eyes briefly in aggravation before turning to the Dead Apostle Ancestor behind him.

"Zelretch-Sama this might actually be something that needs looking into. Isn't there someone else that can help you with whatever it is you need? Luvia or perhaps Rin? I'm sure either of them would be more than capable of helping you, probably even better than me."

Shirou was never one to turn down a request for help from anyone, but even he knew to be cautious when it came to simply agreeing to anything his pseudo master, the Wizard Marshall, asked of him. More often than not it was simply a waste of time that would eventually result in a situation that would give him even more white hair than he already had.

"Come now Emiya-kun…I would not come to you unless it was something I could only entrust to someone such as yourself." The old man's red eyes tried to take on an innocent gaze, but failed to so miserably. "Well Rin is currently in the middle of nowhere trying to find…" He paused for a second before continuing, "Well that's not important, the point is she's not available and Edelfelt is currently working on another assignment for me."

"Sir I understand that this must be important, but we really need." Haruka tried to interject only to fall silent as Zelretch waved his hand to brush off her concerns."

"Don't worry about that for now. You've got a good year or so before anything really happens over there. I'm sure Emiya will be back in plenty of time to help." The smile on his face may have seemed benign, but Haruka still shivered and wisely decided to retreat without further comment.

Saying a quick farewell to both men she silently left the pub, leaving them alone to finish their discussion.

"So what is it you need from me Zelretch-sama?" Shirou asked trying to get straight to the point.

Thankfully it seemed that the old wizard was willing to play along for once.

Instead of answering him Zelretch turned and drew a small dagger, made out of some kind of gleaming jewel, from his coat. **The Jeweled Key of Kaledoscope** , the name appearing in Shirou's mind as soon as he saw it.

The old wizard tightened his grip on the small dagger and the scent of prana filled the air as the key started to glow with an inner light that constantly shifted from one color to another. A quick flick of his wrist and a small gash in space itself formed in the air in front of them.

Shirou watched as the gash grew until it stabilized as a glowing portal about 7 feet tall and 4 feet across. If he hadn't seen it so many times before he probably would have been very impressed.

Zelretch watched him for a moment with a stern gaze before turning away with a small huff.

"Don't pout Zelretch-sama." Shirou scolded the older magus lightly.

"It's not like it's just a fancy light show." Zelretch muttered to himself. "I did just cut a hole in the very fabric of reality."

"Sir could you explain what it is you need?" Shirou tried to interrupt.

"I mean how often does one get to travel to alternate worlds…"

"How about the destination?" Shirou asked hopefully.

"What could possibly be more awe inspiring than that? Time travel!? Child's play!" The old vampire continued on his rant without paying him any mind. "Most people would look at this and be begging to know how it works, but do I even get a gasp of awe?"

"Sir please." Shirou was starting to get worried.

"Or any sign of acknowledgement of how incredible this is? Is that really too much to ask for?"

Shirou could only silently stare at the person most would claim was one of the most powerful beings in several universes as the older man stomped his foot in aggravation.

 _Archer is laughing at me right now._ The younger magus thought to himself with a self-depreciating sigh.

Turning his gaze away from the vampire Shirou instead focused on the scene coming from the other side of the portal.

What he saw knocked all other thoughts out of his head.

A small blond girl, wearing a torn shift that did little to protect her modesty, chained to a wooden cross in front of a room full of people dressed in dark robes.

Shirou immediately realized that no sound was coming from the portal in front of him, otherwise he was sure he would be able to hear the small girl screaming.

There was so much he needed to know. So many questions he should ask before venturing into the portal with no clue as to what else awaited him on the other side.

There were many things that he **should** have done in that moment…

What he **did** was throw himself forward and through the portal without a thought.

His passage through the portal causing a surge of light that finally caught the attention of its creator.

"And is it too much to ask – What?" The Wizard Marshall blinked for a moment as the light faded. "Shirou…where?" He cut himself off realizing what had happened.

Observing the portal he laughed to himself at his pseudo student's impulsive nature.

 _Oh well it's not my fault. She can't accuse me of throwing him through unprepared this time._ Zelretch thought to himself with a laugh.

"I wonder how that Potter boy is doing over on world 42-HP.16?" He pondered as a new thought distracted him.

A quick wave of his hand cleared the portal of the scene he had been watching and replaced it with one showing a dark haired young man standing in front of a room full of old men in dated robes with his hand held out in front of him.

"Well that's a bold move. Haven't seen that before. This should be interesting. I might need some popcorn."

# # #

Inside a darkly lit room, surrounded by books in various states of decay, somewhere in South Cadbury a small woman with long pigtails suddenly stopped what she was doing and glanced around in confusion.

Why did she suddenly feel the need to hit someone for their stupidity?

A few more moments were taken before she managed to shake the feeling off and return to what she had been doing.

"I've almost found it." She wiped the sweat off her forehead before once more looked down at the journal she had been reading. "I swear I'll fix this Shirou, just wait a little bit longer please."

She was almost there…

 _To be continued…_

 **Author's Note:**

 _So here we go. A redone version of my story Guardians of Akasha. Not much has changed in the first chapter. A few extra scenes were added, but not too many. I actually like how the original turned out so it didn't require much tweaking. Please stay tuned for the next chapter. Should be up within the next week._

 _Again I want to thank everyone who provided encouragement and helpful advice about the previous version of this story._

 _Hopefully my muse will stay entertained and will do her little dance for me whenever I ask…I do my best to keep her fed and happy I promise._

 _I am planning to have the second chapter ready to go by 01/18/16, but who knows, if this level of inspiration and energy continues, I might be able to get it posted by the 10_ _th_ _._

 _I hope you all enjoy what is to come! I'm really excited to get your guys feedback._

 _Thanks!_


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